Spout assembly and sealing cap with spring-loaded hinge

ABSTRACT

A spout and sealing cap assembly for a container which includes a spout which is connectable to the container, a sealing cap for closing off a dispensing opening in the spout and a bi-stable hinge integrally formed with the sealing cap. The bi-stable hinge maintains the cap only in one of two stable positions, an open position and a closed position. The spout is formed as a first one-piece plastic part with an undercut profile connection portion. The sealing cap is also formed as a second one-piece plastic part with an undercut profile connection portion spaced from the bi-stable hinge. The plastic of the spout is a formed of a more flexible plastic than that of the sealing cap. The bi-stable hinge is formed integrally with the sealing cap and, thus, also is formed of the relatively rigid, hard plastic. The first and second undercut profile connection portions are interconnected in an interconnection arrangement resulting from an over-molding of the second one-piece elastic part over the first one-piece plastic part. In one embodiment, the sealing cap includes an extension extending from the hinge and having a free edge with an undercut for connection with a corresponding extension of the spout.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dispenser and sealing cap assembly ofa plastic material comprising a spout part adapted to be fixed to acontainer and a sealing cap adapted to close off the spout part andwhich is connected to the spout part by a spring hinge.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Until now such dispenser and sealing cap assemblies were made as onesingle part by moulding of a rigid plastic material such aspolypropylene. In fact, the spring hinges provided on such assembliesbetween the spout part and the sealing cap only correctly fulfill theirfunction, which is to ensure two stable positions of the cap in relationto the dispensing part, when they are made of a rigid plastic material.

Such spring hinges are known, for example, from the French Patent Nos. 1402 900 and 78 03 713.

On the known spout and sealing cap assemblies made as one single partwith the spring hinge from a rigid plastic material, the tightnessbetween the spout part and the neck of the container must be ensured bymeans moulded onto the dispensing part, in particular by lips and/orskirts cooperating with the neck of the container. Because of therigidity of the material of which they are made, these sealing means areunable to compensate possible defects of the neck, which adverselyaffects the tightness. The use of separate flexible seals on the spoutpart which would permit a compensating of such defects is not alwayspossible and would increase the cost price of the spout and capassembly.

Another problem is experienced with the dispenser and sealing capassemblies provided for flexible tubes containing pasty materials, e.g.toothpaste tubes. Nowadays, these tubes are made more and more from aflexible plastic material, in particular polyethylene or from a complexor multilayer structure having an outside polyethylene film. Under theseconditions, a spout and sealing cap assembly, made as one single partfrom a rigid plastic material such as polypropylene so as to enable thespring hinge provided between the two parts to fulfill its function,cannot be welded directly onto the flexible tube. Rather, this type ofassembly must be screwed onto a threaded neck end of a flexible plasticmaterial, in particular polyethylene, welded onto the actual body of theflexible tube. It would be desirable to be able to make spout andsealing cap assemblies with spring hinge which can be fixed directly bywelding onto the body of flexible tubes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide a spout and sealing cap assemblywith spring hinge which, while being easy to make, permits a tightfixing onto a container neck even if the neck has manufacturing defects.A further object of the invention is a spout and sealing cap assemblywith spring hinge which, while being easy to make, permits the assemblyto be fixed by welding it directly onto the body of a flexible tube.

The spout and sealing cap assembly according to the invention comprisesa spout part adapted to be fixed to a container and a sealing capadapted to seal off the spout part and connected to the spout part by aspring hinge. According to the invention the spout part is made from aflexible plastic material, by moulding, and the cap with the hinge ismade as one single part from a rigid plastic material by over-mouldingthe dispensing part.

Making the spout part from a flexible plastic material permits eitherthe forming onto the spout part of sealing means (lips, skirts, etc.)which are sufficiently flexible so that they can compensate possiblemanufacturing defects of the container neck when the spout part isscrewed or clicked onto the neck, or a direct fixing by welding thespout part onto the body of a flexible tube.

The over-moulding of the spout part by the cap can be localized in thezone of the hinge, in which case the spout part has advantageously, inthe zone of the hinge, an edge with a male or female undercut profileensuring a perfect bonding with the material of the cap and the hingeduring the over-moulding.

According to another embodiment the over-moulding of the spout part bythe cap can take place all around the periphery by over-moulding thespout part with a circumferential band to which the actual cap isconnected by the spring hinge.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent whenreading the following description of several exemplified andnon-limitative embodiments of the invention illustrated on the attacheddrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a spout and sealing cap assembly according tothe invention, the cap being shown in the open position;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section on a larger scale of the assembly ofFIG. 1, the cap being closed;

FIG. 3 is a side view similar to FIG. 1 of another embodiment of anassembly according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-section on a larger scale of the assembly ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-section of a spout and sealing cap assemblyfor direct fixing by welding onto the body of a flexible tube.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The plastic spout and sealing cap assembly according to FIGS. 1 and 2comprises a spout part 1 and sealing cap 2 connected to the spout part 1by a spring hinge 3.

As can be noted from FIG. 2, the spout part 1 comprises essentially aninside skirt 4 adapted to cooperate in a tight manner with the innersurface of the neck 5 of a bottle 6, and an outside skirt 7 adapted tocooperate with the outer surface of the neck 5, both skirts 4 and 7being connected to one another at the top by an annular connecting zone8. The inside skirt 4 extends upwards from the connecting zone 8 in theform of a dispensing spout 9. A lid 10 connected by a thin skin 11 tothe inside skirt 4 closes this skirt off. The cover 10 can be pulled outwith the aid of a pulling ring 12 when using the container for the firsttime.

The outside skirt 7, which has an inside rib 13 for fixing the spoutpart 1 onto the container by clicking it onto the neck 5 provided withan outside groove 14, is connected at its bottom end to an outer flange15 which extends upwards in the form of a diverging annular wall up tothe contact plane 16 between the spout part 1 and the cap 2, except inthe zone of the spring hinge 3. In this zone the flange 15 ends belowthe hinge 3 in an edge 17 shaped like an undercut, e.g. a dovetailedtenon. Hinge 3 is shown in FIG. 2 to include a flexible intermediatemember extending between the thicker skirt 22 and connecting part 24.

The complete spout part as described above is made as one single part byinjection moulding from a flexible plastic material, e.g. polyethylene.

The sealing cap 2 comprises an inside skirt 21 and an outside skirt 22extending downwards from a cap top 23, the inside skirt 21 being adaptedto fit into the dispensing spout 9 and the outside skirt 22 forming anextension of the flange 15 of the spout part 1. The cap 2 is injectionmoulded from a rigid plastic material such as polypropylene, as one parttogether with the spring hinge 3 and, between the latter and the edge 17of the spout part 1, with a connecting part 24 which has a femaleprofile in the shape of an undercut, e.g. dovetailed mortice. The cap 2is made by over-moulding the spout part 1, i.e. first the spout part 1is made by injection moulding in a first mould; it is then taken out ofthis first mould and placed as an insert in a second mould in which thecap 2, together with the hinge 3 and the connecting part 24, is made byover-moulding the spout part 1 with the cap 2 in the open position asshown in FIG. 1. The over-moulding is localized in the zone of thehinge, i.e. limited to over-moulding the edge 17 of the spout part 1 bythe connecting part 24 situated underneath the hinge 3.

According to FIGS. 3 and 4, a spout and sealing cap assembly comprises aspout part 31, an annular wall 32, a sealing cap 33 and a hinge spring34.

The spout part 31 has an inside skirt 35 adapted to cooperate with theinner surface of a not illustrated bottle neck, an outside skirt 36adapted to cooperate with the outer surface of the neck and providedwith an inside rib 37 adapted to cooperate by clicking with an outsidegroove of the neck, a cover 38 with pulling ring 39, and a dispensingspout 40 extending upwards from the connecting part 41 of the two skirts35 and 36. It must be noted that the connecting part 41 has an outer rim42 which projects radially around the entire periphery.

The sealing cap 33, which has a hemispherical shape and is provided withan inside skirt 43 adapted to cooperate with the dispensing spout 40, isconnected by the spring hinge 34 to annular wall 32 which ensures itsconnection to the spout part 31. The annular wall 32 comprises an outerpart 44 in the form of a spherical crown, which extends from thehemispherical cap 33 to below the contact plane 45 between the band 32and the cap 33, and an inside truncated cone shaped part 46 extendingfrom the inside end of the part 44 upwards and inwards to end in anannular part 47 which encircles on the outside, over the entireperiphery, the rim 42 of the spout park, 31 and has a female profilecomplementary to the profile of the rim 42.

To make the assembly illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, first of all thespout part 31 is injection moulded in a first mould from a flexibleplastic material such as polyethylene. Then the spout part 31 is placedin a second mould in which the spout part 31 is over-moulded with theaid of the annular wall 32 and the cap 33, the latter is in the openposition as shown in FIG. 3, by injecting a rigid plastic material suchas polypropylene.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, a spout and sealing capassembly comprises a spout part 51, a sealing cap 52 and a spring hinge53.

The spout part 51 is formed by a collar 54 which extends upwards into adispensing spout 55 and downwards into a diverging collar 56 which endsin a rim 57 for connecting the spout part 51 to a flexible tube 58.

The cap 52 which has a shape similar to that of the cap of FIGS. 1 and 2has an inside skirt 59 cooperating with the dispensing spout 55 and anoutside skirt 60. Below the hinge 53 the outside skirt 60 of the cap 52is extended downwards by a connecting part 61 which has a male undercutprofile, e.g. in the form of a dovetailed tenon, and the spout part 51has an edge 62 with a complementary profile, e.g. in the form of anundercut dovetail shaped mortice.

Also in this embodiment the spout part 51 as a whole is first made byinjection moulding from a flexible plastic material in a first mould,and then is transferred to a second injection moulding mould in whichthe spout part 51 is over-moulded by the cap by injecting a rigidplastic material.

The spout and sealing cap assembly made in this manner can then bewelded directly by way of the rim 57 onto a flexible tube 58 of aflexible plastic material because of the compatibility of the materialsof the spout part 51 and the tube 58.

It must be noted that the embodiments described above and illustrated inthe attached drawings have been given only by way of non-limitativeexamples and that numerous modifications and variations are possiblewith the scope of the invention.

Thus, the spring hinge between the cap and the spout part may be madeaccording to all the known embodiments of such spring hinges.

Inviolability means other than lid (10,38) may be provided, e.g. tearaway means covering the provided hollow opposite the spring hinge in theoutside skirt of the cap to facilitate the opening of the cap. These areknown means which have not been illustrated so as not to complicate thedrawings.

Instead of fixing the spout part onto the neck of the bottle by clickingit on as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, it would be also possible to provide ascrew type fixing.

Furthermore, sealing means between the spout part and the bottle neckmay be formed by one of several lips or other known means which form anintegral part of the spout part, in addition to or in place of theinside skirt (4,35) cooperating with the inner surface of the neck.

Another point of interest of the construction according to the inventionof a spout and sealing cap assembly consists in the possibility ofmaking a two-colour assembly, as the different materials used in themanufacture of the assembly according to the invention may havedifferent colours.

We claim:
 1. A spout and sealing cap assembly for a container,comprising:a spout having means for securing said spout to thecontainer; a sealing cap adapted to close off said spout; and abi-stable spring hinge integrally formed with said sealing cap, saidbi-stable spring hinge being dimensioned and arranged with respect tosaid spout and sealing cap such that said sealing cap is positionable inone of two positions, the first position being a stable closed positionwherein said sealing cap closes off said spout and the second positionbeing a stable, open position wherein said spout is in an open state,said spout being a first one-piece part formed of a flexible plasticmaterial, and said spout having a first undercut profile connectionportion, said sealing cap being a second one-piece part formed of a hardplastic material that is more rigid than the plastic material of saidspout, said sealing cap having a second undercut profile connectionportion adapted for interconnection with said first undercut profileconnection portion, said second undercut profile connection portionbeing spaced from said bi-stable spring hinge which is integrally formedwith said sealing cap of the hard plastic material, and said first andsecond connection portions being interconnected in an interconnectionarrangement resulting from an over moulding of said one piece secondpart over said one-piece first part in a region defined by said firstand second undercut profile connection portions such that said spout andsealing cap are interconnected to form said assembly.
 2. An assembly asrecited in claim 1 wherein said first connection portion includes anupwardly extending flange member having an upper first free edge andsaid second connection portion includes a downwardly extending extensionextending from said bi-stable hinge to a lower, second free edge, andone of said free edges having a female reception portion and another ofsaid free edges having a male portion adapted for interconnection withsaid female reception portion.
 3. An assembly as recited in claim 1wherein said first and second connection portions comprise adovetail-shaped tenon and a dovetail-shaped mortise.
 4. An assembly asrecited in claim 3 wherein said first connection portion includes saiddovetail-shaped tenon, and said second connection portion is formed withsaid dovetail-shaped mortise.
 5. An assembly as recited in claim 3wherein said second connection portion includes said dovetail-shapedtenon, and said first connection portion is formed with saiddovetail-shaped mortise.
 6. An assembly as recited in claim 1 whereinsaid first and second connection portions extend over an entireperiphery of said spout and said first connection portion includes aradially outwardly projecting member and said second connection portionincludes an annular portion connected by said hinge to said sealing cap.7. An assembly as recited in claim 1 wherein said securing meansincludes a rim formed of a plastic material directly weldable to aflexible tube forming the container.
 8. An assembly as recited in claim1 wherein said securing means includes an outer skirt on said spout withan inside rib engageable with a neck portion of the container bysnap-engagement of said inside rib with an outside groove on the neckportion of the container.
 9. An assembly as recited in claim 1 whereinsaid bi-stable hinge includes a flexible intermediate member formed ofthe same material as said sealing cap and having less thickness than askirt portion of said sealing cap integrally connected with saidintermediate member and less thickness than a section of said secondundercut connection profile portion integrally connected with saidintermediate member.